The manufacturers of name-brand products and the parties participating in the distribution process, i.e., importers and exporters, wholesalers and retailers, as well as end users, need to identify and authenticate individual products of a name-brand product series. This enables the manufacturers to precisely track the distribution path and the respective times at which the individual product is sold over the various stages of distribution, e.g., in order to ensure that products intended for a certain country are only sold in this country. The merchants and end users (as well as the manufacturer) want to determine whether a certain product is an original product of the name-brand manufacturer or a counterfeit product, i.e., a fake.
This is the reason various methods were developed for authenticating products over the distribution path. In these methods, it is common practice to initially generate a code, e.g., as described in WO 03/007252A1. This code is a relatively counterfeit-proof random code that is assigned once to each individual product, i.e., this code makes it possible to identify an individual product of a product series. This code is applied onto the product itself or onto the product packaging, e.g., printed on a label that is subsequently applied onto the product packaging. The manufacturer simultaneously enters this code into a database that contains a list of all assigned and therefore valid codes. This database is publicly accessible, particularly via the Internet, such that the parties participating in the distribution process are able to access this data in the form of a query. The product is subsequently placed on the market. As soon as the product is acquired by a party participating in the distribution process, e.g., a merchant or an end user, this party is able to access the database via the Internet and to subsequently enter the printed code in order to receive a response indicating whether the code is contained in the database, i.e., if the code is identical to a stored code, and/or if this code was already the object of a prior query. This response enables the merchant or end user to determine the authenticity of the product. If the database response indicates that the number entered by the respective party is not contained in the database, it is quite obvious that the respective product is not an original, but rather a counterfeit. If the response indicates that the code exists in the database, but was already the object of a prior query by a third party (the database is able to store these queries), it is impossible to reliably determine whether the product is an original or a counterfeit because a merchant prior in the distribution chain could have queried the number or a counterfeiter could simply have copied the number. If the response indicates that the number exists in the database and was not yet the object of a query, it can be initially assumed that the product is an original; however, the querying party is unable to determine with absolute certainty if the product is an original or a counterfeit because the product including the number could have been copied and the number of the original was not yet the object of a query.
A person skilled in the art can ascertain, for example, from DE 199 41 362 A1, that it is possible to provide a data carrier with a cover for concealing the code applied thereon in order to disclose this code to the authorized user only (after removing the cover, e.g., a scratch-off layer). However, this particular publication merely describes a data carrier with a removable cover, e.g., for concealing PIN codes from unauthorized third parties.
DE 199 45 760 A1 pertains to a system for checking if an object originates from an assumed source, wherein the object is provided with at least one marking that can be recognized by a detector and the marking recognized by the detector can be compared with individual characteristics of the source. This system is also not counterfeit-proof and falls short of the method described above (with reference to WO 03/007252A1).
Consequently, existing methods provide a name-brand manufacturer with a certain overview of the distribution path as long as the participating parties regularly query the numbers or codes. However, these systems do not provide the parties participating in the distribution process with a sufficiently reliable option for determining whether a product is an original product or a counterfeit.